Confident Walden make it 4 wins in a row

Saffron Walden Town FC 2 – Long Melford FC 0
6th October 2017
Walden built on their epic 4-0 win against top of the table Felixstowe and Walton, with a 2-0 win against Long Melford on Friday evening.

Saffron Walden Town FC 2 – Long Melford FC 0

6th October 2017

Walden built on their epic 4-0 win against top of the table Felixstowe and Walton, with a 2-0 win against Long Melford on Friday evening.
With over 270 fans watching, the Bloods are building on their success and are now finding the side to challenge for a top six place.

Long Melford made it extremely difficult for the Bloods, and worked very hard closing each player down. Melford new Walden would be in attacking form and defended well, not allowing the Bloods many clear chances on goal. Melford sit in the bottom three, but from Fridays performance, certainly don’t look like a team which could face a relegation battle.

Wardley made just one change from last Saturdays winning side, when he replaced Ryan Fleming with himself. The defence is proofing to be extremely hard to beat, with a great range of experience and two wing backs who like to come forward. Ashley Skeggs played for the visitors last season and was in fine form, showing no love loss for his former team mates.

It took until the last minute of the first half to finally break down Melford’s defence. The ball was whipped in to the far post by Dan Grindrod, and Ryan Fleming rose up and headed the ball under Moyes’ dive, and into the corner of the net.

The Bloods started the second half, knowing that the one goal would not be enough and worked hard to double their lead.
Melford were certainly determined to get back into the game and showed no sign of giving up. It was certainly a game which could have
gone either way.

Just before the hour mark, Wardley decided to make a change and replaced Joe Murphy with the skilful and quick James Crane. Crane turned out to be the ‘Super Sub’ and tucked away Tom Lakin’s through ball with his first touch. Credit has to go to Lakin’s excellent work. He ran and travelled with the ball 40 yards whilst fending off two defenders.

As the match continued both teams had decent chances, but couldn’t find the back of the net.

The fans were encouraged by the return of Charlie Portway and Graeme Turner after they have been injured. They both played for the last 10 minutes and created issues for the Melford defence.

The matched finished 2-0 to the Bloods. They now have a few games in hand and could potentially be in the top 6, but have some tough competition coming up. After the weekends matches the Bloods currently sit in 13th place.

After the match manager Stuart Wardley said ‘We are really pleased with the progress we have made. We needed to be hard to beat, and with three clean sheets it shows that the training is paying off. It’s great to see some of the young lads coming in and fight for a place in the first team.’